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Sad day

A local woman and her four young children were killed early this morning. By their husband and father. (And he was found dead later on…he crashed their van and…died.) I’m a little bit freaked out about this and I probably have no right to be because I haven’t even met this woman. But I was going to meet her. Next week. I have e-mails on my computer from her (she seemed so NICE…I can’t believe I’m never going to meet her). I was going to join her book group. Well, I think I’ll still probably join the book group, but I don’t think I’ll go next week. (Maybe in light of this, they won’t even meet next week…I don’t know.) I just don’t feel right going when this will be my first meeting…the rest of the group is going to need to talk about what happened and well…I never knew her, so I’d feel a little voyeuristic being there.

This husband/father was in the midst of some pretty major legal problems right now, too, and had a trial coming up next month. But I’m not going to go into any of that because all I really know about it is what I’ve heard in the media, and this family has had enough pain.

You like to think these things don’t happen in your community…or to people you know…but the truth is these things can happen anywhere. To anyone. Everyone has a breaking point…

I’m really sad to think that the only way he saw out of his problems was to take his wife and children with him…

Something very similar happened here last month. I started to post about it, but didn’t. The couple had divorced two weeks prior, and they were taking turns staying at the house with the kids. Each parent was to take a four day shift. When she showed up for her shift, he chased her out of the house with a taser and gun, and when she ran for help, he ran upstairs and shot the children and then himself. It was a big shocker here also.

I think it shocks us because it shows us all just how vulnerable we really are. These were “good people.” (I’m guessing that was the situation in your community, too.) People who were well known, well liked, very involved in the community.

It’s so easy to say, “I would never do such a thing,” but how does anyone REALLY know what he/she is capable of doing when pushed to the breaking point?

Trying to…I just really feel for the family, especially when I see/hear so many people spouting opinions/judgments. Grandparents on both sides live in this community…these are their children and grandchildren who are being paraded across the news.